The Pope Hosts the Creator of ‘P*ss Christ’ at the Sistine Chapel

Despite a growing backlash against the bizarre left turn the nation has taken the Catholic Church still has its struggles. On Saturday, the anniversary of the Dobbs decision, the Incarnation Catholic Church in College Park, Fla., was severely damaged by a fire. The blaze started around 11:30 Saturday night.

The parish priest, Fr. William Holiday, told Orlando’s Channel 6, “The church for all intents and purposes on the inside is destroyed. We did lose some paintings and some statues and things like that, but there were some things in there, there was a picture of the Blessed Virgin Mary in there (…) and it did not have a mark on it. If it’s circumstantial, it’s God’s providence, if it’s possibly intentional, that’s in God’s providence also.” The cause of the fire remains under investigation, although the timing is noteworthy, given the hostility displayed by pro-abortion groups and most recently demonstrated in Demi Lovato’s newest pro-abortion screed, “Swine.”

While the fire may have been purely an accident, Pope Francis hosted an event over the weekend at the Sistine Chapel. The fete was the fifth celebration of the Vatican’s collection of modern art. Among the attendees was none other than Andres Serrano. For some of you younger readers, that name may not ring a bell. Seranno likes to use such charming media as corpses, bodily fluids, and feces in his “art.” Arguably, his most famous piece was P*ss Christ. This particular “work,” which was unveiled back in 1987, was a large photograph of a crucifix submerged in what Serrano claimed was his own urine. Pope Francis had nothing but praise for the assembled artists, even comparing them to the prophets of the Bible. According to Breitbart, he stated:

You confront things that at times are uncomfortable; you criticize today’s false myths and new idols, its empty talk, the ploys of consumerism, the schemes of power. You can see things both in depth and from afar, like sentinels who strain their eyes, peering into the horizon and discerning deeper realities,” the pope told the assembled artists. “In doing so, you are called to reject the allure of that artificial, skin-deep beauty so popular today and often complicit with economic mechanisms that generate inequality. [sic]

During a Friday audience, Francis told the artists that their work “strives to act as a conscience critical of society, unmasking truisms. You want to make people think, to be alert; you want to reveal reality also in its contradictions and in those things that it is more comfortable and convenient to keep hidden.”

Amidst the artwork that Michelangelo labored so long and so hard to produce stood a man whose claim to fame was putting a crucifix in a jar of urine. Also on hand for the event was Abel Ferrara, who directed the recent Padre Pio biopic. Ferrara’s earlier outings included a slasher-type film and a movie with a title so objectionable I won’t even mention it.

With leaders like this, who needs the DOJ?

Many Protestants of varying traditions would be quick to point out that statues and paintings are forms of idolatry. Some would even call these things direct violations of the Second Commandment. That is a discussion for another time. But many of those same people would express outrage over the desecration of an American flag.

Why was it so important for employees of Starbucks to cover their stores with rainbow decorations during Pride Month? Why do people display “Trump 2024” and “FJB” flags and stickers? Why do decent people of every persuasion abhor the Nazi flag? Why the push to remove some statues and erect others? Because symbols, statues, and pictures matter. And usually, they are outward expressions of deeply held beliefs. An attack on the symbol is by definition an attack on a belief. Serrano may have claimed that he was trying to send a message. What he did was attempt to drag the sacred through the gutters of the profane.

Serrano and others being honored in the Sistine Chapel is yet another example of a church rotting from within. The mainline Protestant denominations began mortgaging their souls and trading the promise of the Gospel for the praise of gnostics and others long ago. Many evangelical churches are falling, and there are even rumblings in the Orthodox Church. Those behind the agenda will not be satisfied with the transformation of education, business, and societal norms. They must also have your soul. To do so, they must pervert the churches to the point that they are no longer relevant and are in fact no longer churches.